USA > West Virginia > Ritchie County > History of Ritchie County, with biographical sketches of its pioneers and their ancestors, and with interesting reminiscences of revolutionary and Indian times > Part 13
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Caleb H. Cox is a distinguished pulpit orator of the United Brethren church in Christ, and is now in charge of the Valley Mill church at Waverly, West Virginia. He is a
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"six-fold" graduate, and one of his college degrees is that of Doctor of Divinity from the Kansas City University.
He is also an author of considerable note-"The Manual of Theology," and the "History of the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Brethren Church in Christ," being the work of his pen. He has written a number of sacred songs, too. among which are "Stay with Me, Lord," and the "Silver River."
He has presented fifteen amendments to the "Book of Discipline" of his church before the General conference, thir- teen of which have been adopted ; has served as secretary of the Conference for twenty-eight years, and has been a men- ber of the Minister's Examining committee for thirty-two years.
Gamaliel Waldo made the first settlement on the farm that is known as the Flannagan homestead near the year 1815. Traces of his old cabin which stood only a few hundred vards from the present W. A. Flannagan residence, are still visible.
Mr. Waldo and his wife, Nancy Bartlett Waldo, came from Harrison county and remained here until about the year 1844, when they removed to Indiana with all their family, except three members who were established in homes of their own, and there they saw the last of earth. They were ad- herents of the Baptist church faith and Mr. Waldo was the first clerk of the "Mab Zeal" Baptist class at Harrisville in 1825.
Their children were as follows : Hickman, Bartlett, Phipps, John, Zedediah, Melinda, Matilda. Harriett, Emily, Amy and Elizabeth Waldo, the daughters having all married in the West.
Hickman Waldo, who married Miss Mary Williams, daughter of Foster and Mrs. Nellie Pritchard Williams, of Doddridge county, remained in the Tollgate vicinity until he . crossed to the other side : and here, on the Doddridge county side, some of his children still live. His family are: John, Oscar, Jasper. James, and George, of Doddridge county : Syl- vester and Francis, of Fairmont; Newton, of Colorado; and Grant died in youth. His daughters are Mrs. Susan (John W.) Debrular, of Holbrook; Mrs. Alice (Joseph) Ankrum,
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Fairmont ; and Mrs. Sarah ( Wilford) Collins, Ohio.
ยท Bartlett Waldo was married to Miss Jane Gray, daughter of James Gray, of Oxford, and spent his life in Doddridge county. His children were Arthur, Sarah, the late Mrs. Eliza- beth (Christopher) Lipscomb, of Clarksburg: Mrs. Emily Norris, Wetzel county; Thomas Waldo, of Grantsville; and Miss Victoria Waldo, of Clarksburg.
The Taylors .- Eli Taylor was the head of another old and worthy Clay district family.
He was descended from English (or Irish) emigrants. who crossed to the Western world in Colonial times and set- tled in New Hampshire. The time of their coming is not de- finitely known, but it is probable that his grandsire, Daniel Taylor, was among the first to cross. However this may be. our history begins with Daniel Taylor, who married Miss Sarah Larue for his second wife, and migrated from the "Hampshire hills" to what is now Hampshire county. West Virginia, where he established a permanent home, and reared a family ; and from his two sons, Eli and John Taylor, quite a number of the citizens of this part of the county are dle- scended.
Eli Taylor was born in Hampshire county in 1813, and his wife, Mary Sigler (born 1812) was a native of Allegheny county, Maryland.
They were married on May 16, 1833; and in 1841 they removed to this county, and settled near Tollgate, where their son, Silas J. Taylor, now resides. Here death closed his eyes in 1855, but Mrs. Taylor survived until 1876, when she was laid by his side in the Tollgate cemetery.
Their children were seven in number, viz., John William (1834-1847), Aseneth Ellen (1836-1861 unmarried), Phillip (1839-1834), who died at Clarksburg, where he sleeps. (from smallpox) while serving as a Union soldier; Daniel E. (1841-), lives in Texas; Sarah Martha (1843-54), Silas J. (1845), of Tollgate ; and Eli Griffin, (1849) who was formerly a teacher of this county, is now of Morgantown. He (Griffin Taylor) was married in 1880 to Miss Camora Barcus. of In- diana.
Silas J. Taylor, who still occupies the old home, where he was born sixty-five years ago, is one of the substantial
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citizens of this community. He is a successful tiller of the soil, and was at one time a member of the honorable County court.
On January 1, 1867, he deserted single life when he claimed Miss Eleanor Cathrine Collins, daughter of William Collins, as his bride : and the five children born of this union are as follows :
Vida A. is Mrs. A. J. Zinn, of Tollgate ; and William C. and Otha R. are business men of this town; Miss Faye is at home; and Silas Reuben lives in Wirt county.
John Taylor, the elder brother of Eli, was born in Hamp- shire county in 1810, and there in 1832, he was married to Miss Deborah Monroe, who was also . born in Hampshire county of Scotch parentage; and on October 18, 1833, twins were born of this union-a son and a daughter; and four days after the birth of these children the young mother was borne to her final resting place.
The daughter, Mary E. Taylor, grew to womanhood and married Mr. Cornwell, and she is the venerable mother of Hon. J. J. Cornwell, the noted lawyer and politician, of Ron- ney.
The son, John Monroe Taylor, remained in his native county until he had reached the age of eighteen years, when he went to Bridgeport, in Harrison county. There he met and married Miss Huldah Pool, daughter of Thomas Pool, a descendant of the Waldos and Goffs, of Harrison county, and from there they removed to Tollgate in the ante-bellum days.
At the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Taylor joined the "Home Guards," and while on duty at the Baltimore and Ohio railroad bridge, contracted typhoid fever, which finally resulted in his death thirty years later. In February, 1892. he suffered a slight injury to the limb that had been affected by the fever during his military service, and his wife was the victim of an attack of la grippe, and both began to decline ; and on a beautiful Sunday in May (1, 1892) they both passed into the land of eternal day. He preceded her by one brief hour, and both lie at rest in one grave in the Gnat's run ceme- tery.
They were the parents of six children: Ira Taylor is one of the oldest and most successful teachers of the county ;
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Thomas W., and J. Hammond are also of this county ; Albert is of Morgantown; and Anna T. (Mrs. Taylor), and Vietta (Mrs. Flanagan), both of Mineral county.
The Lantzes .- The venerable Jacob Lantz, who is, per- haps, at this time, the oldest resident of the county, has been identified with the citizenship of this river for more than seventy years.
He was born at Blacksville, West Virginia, on August 22, 1814; and there his parents, John and Elizabeth Bonnett Lantz, spent their lives. On December 8, 1836, he was mar- ried to Miss Minerva Miner, of Blacksville, and two years later, they came to this county and settled on the "Simon Lantz farm" (now owned by ex-Sheriff Okey E. Nutter) ; and from here, in 1863, he removed to Mole Hill, where he still survives.
Mrs. Lantz died on March ?, 1860, and was laid at rest in the Mole Hill cemetery. And on April 14, 1861, Mr. Lantz was again married to Mrs. Lettie Smith Jones, daughter of Isaac Smith, of Tyler county, and widow of James Jones ; but on March 3, 1906, Death laid his icy hand upon her, and she, too, rests in the Mole Hill cemetery. His granddaughter, Miss Lettie Marsh, now lives with him.
The children of his first marriage were five in number, and were as follows :
John Lantz, born November 23, 1837, and died on Febru- ary 10, 1861.
Simon Miner, born October 26, 1839, and died on January 10, 1863.
Louisa, born June 25, 1841, and in 1860, married Lycur- gus Hill, and died at her home in Tyler county on October 30. 1903. She was the mother of ex-Sheriff B. F. Hill ; and ex- Senator T. P. Hill.
Emeline Lantz, born on February 16, 1843, married Peter Stuart, on August 27, 1865, and resides at Mole Hill.
Allison Price Lantz, born on May 16, 1848, married Miss Lina Haymond. on October 24, 1869, and died at his home at Mole Hill on April 20, 1870.
The children of the second union are Minerva A., the wife of Reeves Haymond; and Ida Lantz, wife of John R. Maish, both of Mole Hill.
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The Cunninghams .- Though not pioneers, the families of Joseph and James Larkin Cunningham have long been identified with the leading citizens of this part of the county. These brothers were the sons of John and Sarah King Cun- ningham, and from Marion county they came during the spring of 1857.
Joseph Cunningham and his wife, Luvina McCray, set- tled on the Lewis Bond farm on Gnat's run, where their son now lives. Here he passed from earth during the summer of 1890, and his venerable widow survived until February 10, 1904. Both rest in the family burying-ground on the old homestead.
Their children were as follows: Harriet (Mrs. L. S. Sill, Pennsboro) ; Rebecca (Mrs. D. M. Hayhurst, Beech Grove) : Jane (Mrs. W. A. Duckworth, Duckworth Summit) ; Ang- elina (widow of Jefferson Marsh, of Harrisville) : Sarah (Mrs. W. W. Collins, Pennsboro) ; Mary (Mrs. D. Z. Taylor, Hamp- shire county) : Ellen (unmarried), who, with her brother. Robert, resides at the old home: the late Andrew, of Okla- homa : Joseph H. B., of Mole Hill ; and the late James Frank- lin, whose family now live at Huntington.
Jay E. Cunningham, of Pennsboro, who is so well known in Prohibition circles; J. Frank Marsh, Harvey Marsh, and numerous other prominent young people that might be men- tioned, are the grandchildren of Joseph Cunningham.
James Larkin Cunningham was married to Miss Eliza- beth Fox (sister of E. C. Fox, of Harrisville), on January 16. 1845, who was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania. on December 23, 1821, and on their arrival in this county, they established their home near Beech Grove, where their son, D. B. Cunningham, now resides. Here Mr. Cunningham died in March, 1888, and Mrs. Cunningham joined him on the other side on October 1, 1909.
They were the parents of the following named sons and daughters: D. B., who was long a teacher in this county, with his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, resides at the old home : G. Fillmore met a tragic death by drowning in the South fork of Hughes' river not far from his home, at Hazelgreen, near twelve years ago: A. S. is of Beech Grove: Eli, of Illinois :
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Mrs. Lyda Whitehill, of Parkersburg: Edith married Dewit Richardson, and after her death at her home in Athens coun- ty, Ohio, her sister, Mary, became the wife of Mr. Richardson, and they reside in Ohio still.
John Cunningham, another brother of Joseph and James Larkin, and his wife, who was Miss Mahala McCray, sister of Mrs. Joseph Cunningham, were also residents of Gnat's run, but they died childless.
While the connection has not been established between this family and the older pioneer families of this name in the county, there is but little doubt that they are a collateral branch of the same race.
David Allen McGinnis, the subject of this sketch, was born in Cabell county, on October 1, 1822; and, there, on a farm and in his father's store, the days of his boyhood were principally spent. He early developed a fondness for books, and was a student of Marshall college in its academic days. At the age of seventeen years, he entered the profession of teaching (first in Wayne county), and thus continued for a number of years. Being naturally of a religious turn of mind, he united with the Methodist Episcopal church at the age of thirteen years, and, on August 17, 1844, was licensed to preach the gospel; and at once entered the field of the itiner- ancy, where he continued his labors for seven years-until his failing health compelled him to take a local relation with the conference.
He was a man of pronounced views and of a deeply relig- ious character, and the influence of this character has left its impress upon his descendants, who ever stand for something in the communities where they reside.
On October 8, 1849, he was married to Miss Sarah Jane Marsh, daughter of Enoch Marsh, who was also a teacher and a woman of high, Christian character ; and the following year they came to this county, and settled at Mole Hill, where his life came to a peaceful close, on Sunday, May 17, 1896. Mrs. McGinnis was borne to the family burying-ground on the old Marsh homestead at Tollgate, in November, 1876, and after her death he was married to Miss Nancy Hammett, of Wood county. His body rests in the Mole Hill cemetery.
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He was the father of twelve children-all of the first union : viz., P. M. McGinnis, Donahue: Asbury H., Tyler county ; Enoch M., Texas : John H., Goff's; Samantha, who first married Warren Coplin, is now Mrs. Aaron Younge, of Wirt county ; Mary Anne is Mrs. Isaac Lambert. of Ellen- boro : Melcena J., the wife of Dr. A. S. Grimm, of St. Mary's : Clarinda, Mrs. Francis Mccullough, of Mole Hill; Sarah, the late Mrs. Leonard Doak, of Harrisville: Armedia, the late Mrs. John Britton, of Mole Hill ; Eliza J., and Lina, who both died in youth, rest in the Mole Hill cemetery. Eliza died in 1885, and Lina, the following year. This family figured prominently among the teachers of former years, five mem- bers being thus identified.
Cierk H. E. McGinnis, of the Circuit court, is the grand- son of David A. McGinnis, he being the eldest son of P. M. McGinnis.
McGinnis Ancestry .- This family is of Irish-Malesian origin and its history dates back so far that it has almost be- come lost in the "haze of antiquity." But the authentic his- tory, however, begins with the year 1000. .
The name comes from two Irish words-"Mag," meaning son, and "Agensha," meaning great strength, and from these two ancient words, its various spellings, "McGennes," "Nic- Ginnis," "Magennis," etc., originated.
The family migrated from the North of Ireland to the Western World-from County Down of Ulster. where they were a powerful clan in early times, and the "Red Hand of Ulster" is on their coat-of-arms. They, with their rivals, the O'Neills, ruled the province of Ulster until the coming of the English. in 1600, when many of them left their homes, going to foreign lands-some to the Highlands of Scotland, and some to other climes. But the first record we have of the family in the Occident is near the year 1700, when some of them entered the Indian wars in the New England colonies.
Captain McGinnis. commander of a company of New Hampshire troops, routed the French at Rocky Brook. near Lake George, in 1755, and was killed a little later by a spent ball, but he was unmarried. Soon after this, several families of the name settled at Philadelphia, and from them the Mc-
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Ginnises of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia come. They are to-day very numerous throughout the Union, the entire number being estimated at two thousand five hundred, but Pennsylvania claims the larger share.
The Rev. Edmund McGinnis, who was born in Cabell county (West) Virginia, on November 25, 1798, and with his parents removed to Guyandotte, in Cabell county, in 1811, was the progenitor of the Ritchie county family. He, too, was a zealous worker in his Master's vineyard. He, having been converted at the age of seventeen years, ivas licensed to preach in 1827.
On June 12, 18?1, he was married to Miss Mary Hough- land. of Washington county, Ohio, who was a relative of George Washington, Eli Whitney and Robert Fulton. He removed to Texas late in life and there passed away in the "full triumphs of faith" on June 9, 1865.
He delivered his last sermon on March fifth and, while thus engaged, was seized with the fatal illness, which con- tinned until June, as above stated. His wife died on July 6. 1876, and by his side she sleeps. They were the parents of ten children, all of whom have crossed the tide-six preceded him home: Among them were David A. McGinnis, who lived and died at Mole Hill : Oliver A., Milville, and Fletcher, and Mrs. Melcena Beurhing, who all went to Texas; and Mrs. Mary Johnson, who sleeps at Huntington.
The Rev. F. M. Malcolm, of the West Virginia M. E. Conference, is descended from this family, he being a son of Mrs. Virginia McGinnis Malcolm, and the grandson of Col. John McGinnis, of Cabell county.
To Herbert P. McGinnis, brother of Clerk H. E. McGin- nis, we owe our thanks for this valuable sketch. He having gleaned it from a published record of the family.
Abraham Cline was a very early settler on what was lccally known as "Dry Ridge," not far from the Pleasants county line, but he changed his place of residence to High- land about the year 1822, where he kept a house of public entertainment, for a time, and here our information concern- ing his history ends, though it is quite probable that he has descendants in this county. His daughter, Polly, who is said
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to have been the first white child born on this side of the Blue Ridge mountains, became the wife of John Douglass and went West. This pioneer was of German origin, and was the son of William Cline, senior, who made the first improve- inent where the little town of Smithiville now stands, and who afterwards removed to near Gallipolis, Ohio, where he prob- ably found a resting place.
One of the Clines is said to have killed the last Indian that met his death at the hands of a white man in this section of West Virginia, he having shot the intruder while he was attempting to steal his horse.
William Cline, junior, brother of Abraham, was married to Miss Epha Marsh, daughter of James Marsh, and after a brief residence near Gallipolis, Ohio, removed to Middle Island creek, Doddridge county ; and from there, to Tollgate, this county, where he died and where he lies buried. He left two children, Eli, aged twelve, and Eleanor, aged eight years : and after his death his widow married Notley G. Willis, and one son, N. G. Willis, of Mole Hill, was the result of this union. (For farther history of Cline descendants see Hay- mond history.)
Eleanor Cline became the wife of William C. Haymond. and has a long line of descendants in this county.
Eli Cline, who first married Miss Frances Collins, daugh- ter of Jacob, and afterwards, Mrs. Bradford (widow of Jacob Bradford), died at Pennsboro near the year 1900. For the children of the first marriage, see Collins history, and of the three sons born of the second union, William alone grew to the years of maturity.
CORNWALLIS SETTLED.
Jesse C. Lowther (son of Thomas and grandson of Col. William), was the first to break the forest at Cornwallis. He came from his native county-Harrison, and married, Phebe, the daughter of William Cunningham, of Revolutionary fame, in 1811, and settled on the "Horner farm," on the Harrisville- Cornwallis road. the following year. He later purchased an additional tract of land at the mouth of Bear run, and built a cabin on the site that is now marked by the Naughton resi- dence ; and here he died in 1842 at the age of fifty years, and
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in the Pioneer burying-ground at Harrisville, beside his wife, he rests.
He and his wife were the parents of twelve children : W'm. H. Lowther, who rests in Illinois; John G. J., of Corn- wallis ; Margaret, who first married a Cunningham, and later, Ichabod Kirkpatrick; Lydia, was the late Mrs. John Elliott, and Barbara, the late Mrs. Jacob Elliott; Jane married Win. Hardman, and went to Nebraska; Mary Ann was the late Mrs. G. W. Hardman, of this county; and Matilda, the only survivor of the family (who first married Maxwell Lowther, of Cairo), is now the widow of the late David McGregor, of Cairo. The rest died in youth.
Wolverton .- A man by the name of Wolverton built the second cabin at Cornwallis. Then in 1840 came William Cun- ningham (whose interesting history occupies a place in an carlier chapter), from Harrisville, and purchased near one thousand two hundred fifty acres at the mouth of Bond's creek, which is now divided up into several farms, and erected his humble dwelling near the present site of the Roland resi- dence.
John G. Skelton and George Weils were the other early settlers in this section.
John G. Skelton (a deaf mute) was the son of Edward Skelton, an English pioneer of the Harrisville vicinity. And his wife, Miss Prudence Chidester, was also a deaf mute. They went from here to Cairo, and from there to Illinois. where they both lie at rest in the Litchfield cemetery.
They had three daughters and two sons, all of whom could hear and talk. Kathrine, the eldest daughter, married at Litchfield, and there perhaps the descendants of the family live.
George Wells is still a resident of this community, though helpless from the weight of years and ill-health. He is the son of the late Isaiah Wells, of the Harrisville vicinity, and a native and life-long resident of this county. His natal day was August 31, 1834; and he came to Cornwallis in 1858, shortly after his marriage to Miss Barbara Hardman, daugh- ter of the late Rev. James Hardman, of Hardman chapel : and erected the first mill in this section, that same year ; and con- tinued to operate it until 1875, when its wheels became silent,
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and its pulses refused to beat. Here in 1871, the wife of his youth passed from sight, and in 1875, he was married to Miss Virginia Dilworth, daughter of Asa Dilworth, and niece of his first wife, who is the companion and staff of his "declining years."
The children of his first marriage are Mrs. Jennie New- land, of Boreland: Mrs. C. A. Kearns, Rusk: Tip Wells, Cairo : C. L. Wells, Grafton ; and Edward, Harrisville.
The children of the second union are two sons: C. C. and Bert, both of Cornwallis.
SILVER RUN.
"Little streamlet fair and free Sing your song-so sweet to me! Of your onward rushings to the far off sea; 'Cause I love your bonnie danks, Silver streamlet-take my thanks! * * *
"Fair Stream of Silver run, Lightly laughing playful run From the snowlands to the southern sun; Let the shine of silvered sands, Glinting, glean upon my hands,
In remembrance-fairest lands!"
HERBERT P. M'GINNIS.
"Silver Run" is but a mere speck on the map, "a fiag station, a by-place of the county, and of the State-an 1111- known corner of the world," a stream three miles in length. yet with all its insignificance, it has a history worthy of record, a place in our sonnets : it having inspired the pretty lines above quoted from the pen of our Boy-Poet, who is one of its most familiar friends.
It is supposed to have been settled near the year 1830 by some unknown Nimrod, who dug his cave in a hill. but its first permanent settlement was made by Mr. Campbell, who came from Baltimore in the ante-bellum days and improved the fine farm that is now owned by his son, William Camp- bell. Other Irish families arrived later, principally from the East, and finding work on the railroad and in the timber in- dustry, a colony was soon formed. The community is still distinctively Irish, and among these families are the Camp- bells, the Donohues, the McTights. the McGinnises, and others that might be mentioned. A German family by the name of
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Mink was also among the earlier settlers, they having come from the Fatherland during the first years of the Civil war.
The name of the stream originated about the year 1857. while the railroad tunnel was being arched, when something that resembled silver was unearthed.
P. M. McGinnis, who now owns the Hall lands, settled here near 1876, and was instrumental in securing the first regular station at this point ; and erected the first real store- house in which B. F. Hill, of Tyler county, later Sheriff of this county, opened a general store. The post-office under the name of "Donohue" came in the eighties, and near this time a more modern store building was erected.
"Silver Run" was now a central lumber shipping point for Goose creek and Sheep run, and tram roads extended for eight or ten miles back into the wilderness. Oil seekers had already been prospecting on the Hall (McGinnis) lands, but this fluid was not found in paying quantities until much later.
Speakeasies flourished in an early day, and one old Irish lady (?) became quite familiar with the scenes at the jail and the court house at the County seat, but these times have long since past, and the community is now quiet and law-abiding.
The Catholics, "ever loyal and hardworking people," con- structed a log church on "Tunnel hill" in early days, but a modern structure, the largest of this denomination in the county, now adorns the site. Here, in this churchyard, the first graves of the community were hollowed out, and the dates on the stones show that some were laid here in the fifties and others during the dark days of the Civil war.
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